ND Forming Pipeline Safety Panel

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple says he is forming a panel to increase pipeline safety in the state.

Dalrymple says the group will include independent engineers, members of the pipeline industry and state officials.

Dalrymple says he met with officials from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Monday. The governor says the federal agency has agreed to put a member of its staff on the panel.

Dalrymple says the group is "tasked with researching the use of the latest available technologies to enhance pipeline safety in the state."

The move comes after a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture that was discovered in September and sent more than 20,000 barrels of crude oozing across a wheat field near Tioga.